By Leika Kihara
TOKYO (Reuters) -The Bank of Japan’s new board member, Kazuyuki Masu, said on Tuesday the central bank should not rush into raising interest rates, given various risks surrounding the economy.
“It’s true real interest rates are negative. But given recent economic developments, the BOJ shouldn’t be in a rush to raise rates,” Masu told a press conference after being officially appointed by the government to join the nine-member board.
Corporate activity seems to be holding up in Japan despite uncertainty over the impact of U.S. tariffs, as seen in the BOJ’s tankan quarterly survey released on Tuesday.
“But Japan’s trade negotiations with the U.S. are still ongoing, so we must scrutinise developments,” Masu said.
“Automobiles are the mainstay of Japan’s exports to the U.S. As such, we can’t have any preset idea on the impact (of U.S. tariffs) until a deal is struck,” he added.
Masu said he agreed with the BOJ’s assessment that underlying inflation, or price moves driven by the strength in domestic demand, remained short of its 2% target.
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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